Corporate misdemeanour.

Corporate misdemeanour.

Dear friends,
Lots of interesting mails have been flowing in regarding Satyam's Corporate misdemeanour. Over some time, I too wish to pen a few posts looking at the event from different angles...because it provides an unique case study for every one to ponder and draw one's own lessons. One report for instance says that Raju was obsessed with possession of land and diverted huge funds to acquire the same thus deviating from the firm's main theme 'IT'. Without going into the merits or otherwise of such obsession, my sahadharmini immediately recalled her school days..and Leo Tolstoy's story "How much land does a man need?"
The central character of the story is a farmer named Pahom.He always cribbed that he did not own enough land. A landlady in the village decides to sell her estate, and the peasants of the village buy as much of that land as they can. Pahom himself purchases some land, and by working off the extra land repays his debts and lives a comfortable life.
However, Pahom then becomes obsessively possessive of his land, and this gets him into discord with his neighbours. This is a first sign that greed is disrupting his moral values. Later, he moves to a larger area of land at another Commune. Here, he can grow even more crops and amass a small fortune, but he has to grow the crops on rented land, which irritates him.
Finally, he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. Thus, he approaches them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate. Their offer is very unusual: for a sum of 1000 rubles, Pahom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses will be his. He is delighted as he believes that he can cover a great distance and has chanced upon the bargain of a lifetime.
His journey across the land illustrates his greediness. He tries to cover as much land as possible, not content with what he already has. As the sun nearly sets, he realizes his error...he had walked too far... and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets. The Bashkirs cheer his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, he drops dead. They bury him in an ordinary grave only six feet long, thus ironically answering the question posed in the title of the story.
Tolstoy’s message in the story is clear enough - Pahom destroys himself because he allows the sin of greed to guide his life.The truths in Tolstoy’s story can be rationalized, of course. Pahom makes choices of his own free will - and those choices lead him to destruction.
And some may say that Tolstoy’s religiosity seems quaint and out of tune with our complicated times.It might also be useful in our complicated times to do some simple substitutions for the word
“land” and see if the warning Tolstoy’s simple parable offers has a different ring. How about if one substituted - oil? convenience food (do you call it fast food? ),cheap goods? clean water and air? war? power? money? (I’m sure others are occurring to you….).Tolstoy seems to get complicated enough for us pretty quickly then…
And hey!, This has no link with my "Pattar Plans a Purchase" story.

Warm rgds
V~v~R
11-01-09

Annadaanam

Annadaanam
("God comes to the hungry in the form of food")--Gandhi.
Dear friends,
I have heard elders say that "there is no other 'Daanam' greater than 'Annadaanam'; It is the ultimate". My sahadharmini elucidates further, "That is the only 'Daanam' which having received, the recipient gets satiated and says 'no thanks..enough' as compared to any other 'Daanam'.... material or otherwise which never satisfies the receiver who will crave for some more and more!!!" A point which I pondered every time I sat with thousands of devotees for a free meal at almost all of the temples we visited in Karnataka State equipped with their mechanized kitchens!!!
With my 32 years of nomadic life as a soldier my children had the unique privilege of being with their grandparents who recalled for the kids stories from scriptures couched in moral values. Today if my son misses any one on this planet, he simply says "Grandpa". So now for some musings:
The Mahabharata war is over. The central characters are all in heaven/hell. In fact Yudhishtira is even surprised to see Dhuryodhana in Heaven! Karna too is in heaven but with slight discomfort due to nagging hunger. "Krishna! I feel so hungry here in heaven", pleads Karna.
"Well, suck your forefinger and may be you will get satiated" taunts Krishna. "Remember? That poor hungry soul who was once ready to eat out of your hands? What did you do? You directed him by pointing towards Dhuryodhana who at that time was dolling out 'Annadaanam'. Was that all the so called daanaveera karna could do? Now you suck that same finger and be happy and see if you could get appeased!" admonished Krishna.
Karna is the very embodiment of sacrifice. Nay, sacrifice is a synonym for Karna. In the entire world you cannot find one other man equal in the spirit of sacrifice to Karna. In weal or woe, triumph or defeat he could not forget the quality of sacrifice. But Karna was human after all. He had forgotten that Krishna had already granted him his request on an earlier occasion to make amends soon enough!
Cut to that occasion
Darkness had enveloped the battlefield. Krishna was with Arjuna. He in His sweet voice was calling out, "Karna! Karna!" Karna was gasping for breath in his last moments. He cried, "Who is calling me? I am here." Following the direction from which the words came, Krishna went near Karna. Before that, Krishna assumed the form of an indigent Brahmin. Karna asked him, "Who are you, sir?" Karna was nearing his last breath. Krishna (as the poor Brahmin) replied, "I have heard a lot about your reputation as a charitable person. You are known as, 'Daana Karna' (Karna the great giver). Today, not knowing your plight, I am here to ask you for a gift….. a donation." "Certainly, I shall give you whatever you want," replied Karna. "I am to perform the marriage of my son. I want a small quantity of gold," said Krishna. "Oh! Is that so? Please go to my wife, she will give you as much gold as you need", said Karna. The Brahmin broke into a laughter. He said, "For the sake of a little gold have I to go all the way to Hastinapura? If you say, you are not in a position to give me what I ask, I shall leave you. "
Karna declared, "As long as breath remains in me, I will not say 'no' to anyone." Karna opened his mouth, showed the gold fillings for his teeth and said, "I shall give this to you. You can take them." Assuming a tone of revulsion, Krishna said, "What is it you suggest? Do you expect me to break your teeth and take the gold from them? How can I do such a wicked deed? I am a Brahmin."
Immediately, Karna picked up a stone nearby, knocked out his teeth and offered them to the Brahmin. Krishna in his guise as Brahmin wanted to test Karna further. "What? Are you giving me as gift teeth dripping with blood? I cannot accept this. I am leaving", he said. Karna pleaded, "Swami, please wait for a moment." Even while he was unable to move, Karna took out an arrow and aimed it at the sky. Immediately rain poured from the clouds. Cleaning the teeth with the rain water, Karna offered the teeth with both his hands.
Pleased with his supreme sacrifice, Krishna grants Karna the vision of himself seated on Garuda, accompanied by his consorts. The Lord promises Karna to grant him whatever boon he wishes. Karna says that, although he could ask Krishna to give victory to Duryodhana and bring his armies back to life, he does not want to do so. He then requests two things: firstly, that as soon as he dies, his mother Kunti shall be informed. She will rush to the battlefield and proclaim publicly that Karna is her son and that he is not of low caste. Secondly, in order to reach Krishna's feet (that is, the liberation of his soul from the cycle of births) Karna wants to fulfill the good deed of feeding others (annadaanam). This is the only daanam he has not been able to carry out in this life, because nobody wanted to eat in the house of a person of low caste. He asks Krishna to give him in his next births the means to be liberal and the opportunity to carry out annadaanam. A moved Krishna grants Karna these favours and tells him that in his next life he will be reborn as Siruttontar Nayanar, famous for offering his own son as food to Lord Siva, after which he will attain moksham.
Warm rgds
V~v~R
31-01-09